Jon Solomon Fires Back

[Townhallsavoy]

I guess he's firing back at the release of the information that cleared us with the NCAA.   

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Auburn stopped recruiting nationally-recognized football and baseball prospect Jaboo Winston and kept assistants Trooper Taylor and Tommy Thigpen off the road for 45 days last year due to self-imposed penalties from two NCAA secondary violations involving Tiger Prowl.

The case stemmed from impermissible contact with Winston at his high school on April 28, 2010, and briefly later that evening in Pelham involving Thigpen and a booster at a fan event. Tiger Prowl was a high-profile event Auburn used to stage to attract interest from fans and recruits as coaches criss-crossed the state in style.

Auburn did not identify the recruit's name, which was redacted in documents the university released today through open-records requests. But in one instance the documents identified the high school location as Hueytown, and described the recruit as a football and baseball prospect who is a senior this year and at the time was being recruited by Auburn, Alabama, Miami and Ohio State.

Winston, a Florida State commitment, is a football and baseball star at Hueytown who has been recruited by those schools. He is widely regarded as one of the nation's best baseball and quarterback prospects.

In a letter last October to SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, Auburn attorney William King wrote that Auburn's football staff could not have off-campus contact with Winston until late January 2012. Auburn said under the SEC minimum penalties, it imposed a 60-day period of no off-campus contact -- 30 days for each violation -- beginning with the off-campus contact period this month.

Auburn's football and baseball staffs were previously prohibited from any on- or off-campus contact with Winston in September and October 2010. The documents say Auburn denied Winston's request for complimentary tickets to attend the South Carolina game on Sept. 25, 2010.

Winston visited Auburn in March 2011. One month later, Auburn got a commitment from five-star quarterback Zeke Pike. Winston, who could turn pro in baseball, later committed to Florida State.  Auburn takes what it wants, bitches.

Taylor and Thigpen were restricted from off-campus recruiting from Sept. 13-Oct. 28, 2010. Auburn noted to Slive that it believed Thigpen and Taylor acted appropriately by quickly ending the impermissible conversations.

As the result of another Tiger Prowl incident in Mobile, Auburn banned its coaches from off-campus recruiting at McGill-Toolen High School and Davidson High School for the month of September 2010.

Auburn committed a secondary violation by relocating Tiger Prowl from a state park to Archbishop Lipscomb Stadium, which is owned by McGill-Toolen and shares the stadium with Davidson. Auburn assistant Curtis Luper and other Auburn coaches said they thought the city of Mobile owns the stadium.

Renee Gomila, NCAA associate director of enforcement for secondary violations, signed off on Auburn's infractions as secondary in a letter to Slive on Aug. 4, 2011.

At the heart of the Winston case was how he happened to attend the Tiger Prowl event in Pelham, which was open to the public.

Auburn said it looked closely at whether its football staff or someone acting on its behalf invited Winston or encouraged his mentor or a current Auburn player to invite him. Auburn concluded there was no information suggesting either occurred.


Tiger Prowl started in 2009 as a way for Auburn coaches to introduce themselves to fans and recruits across the state. Coaches rode in stretch limo Hummers to various high schools in Alabama during the spring evaluation period.

After landing a top-five recruiting class, Auburn unveiled a new version of Tiger Prowl in 2010. A highly decorated bus with images of Auburn football toured each city in which the coaches visited high schools.

Tiger Prowl ended in April 2010 when the NCAA Division I Board of Directors passed a rule saying schools could no longer send more than two coaches to visit a high school on the same day during an evaluation period. The NCAA felt schools were unnecessarily spending money simply for perception purposes.

According to the NCAA, Taylor and Thigpen had impermissible off-campus contact on April 28, 2010 with Winston and another redacted name on a visit to his high school during an evaluation period. The NCAA said the high school coach previously had called Auburn's staff to see when they would be there, and the high school coach drove Winston to the school to ensure he was there when Auburn was present.

Later that night in Pelham, Winston boarded the Tiger Prowl bus and had contact during his 15 minutes there with an Auburn booster and Thigpen. Auburn determined no violation occurred by Winston boarding the bus since it was open to those attending the event in Pelham.

Auburn ruled a violation happened when Winston and Thigpen had a brief conversation. Auburn said Thigpen quickly ended it because he realized there should be no contact.

The SEC received a photograph of Winston standing with an Auburn booster at the event. Auburn identified the man as Sean Smith, who was a football manager as a student in the mid-1980s and a season-ticket holder until 2009. Auburn said Smith and Winston have a preexisting relationship from a summer baseball team prior to Winston becoming a prospect. Previous relationship!  Nothing to see here.  Move along quickly.  Right, Alabama?

Smith told Auburn he came to the Tiger Prowl event to see a former Auburn coach and that as he made small talk with Taylor, Winston approached from behind. Smith told Auburn he did not discuss the university or encourage him to attend Auburn. Winston said in his interview he initiated the conversation with Smith.

Luper told Auburn when he noticed Winston at the event, he located a security guard and asked him to notify Winston and his group that they needed to leave. Winston and security guard Keith Walton confirmed Luper's account and Winston left, according to Auburn.

The NCAA determined no further action should be taken on any of these matters. Auburn released these documents and others today after the NCAA ended its broader investigation into the football program last month.
E-mail: jsolomon@bhamnews.com

LET ME TASTE YOUR TEARS, JON!

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/11/auburn_stopped_recruiting_jabo.html

[Buzz Killington]

The SEC received a photograph of Winston standing with an Auburn booster at the event.

I wonder who sent the photo to Slive?!?!?

[RWS]

Maybe it's me, but some things considered "infractions" by the NCAA seem petty as fuck.

[Xanusus]

I couldn't help myself. I had to give Jon a piece of my mind for the story. It almost comes across to me as pettiness on his part for this story. All the smoke pouring out of Auburn and nothing happens, so Jon gets upset and runs and grabs some MINOR violation from over a year ago and writes a hit piece about it. I wonder why he's not touching any of the smoke coming from Ttown. Yep, he's a Bama fan.

[The Prowler]

Can't wait to see what Evan Woodbammer writes...he probably just helped Solomon write that garbage piece.

[AUChizad]

Can't wait to see what Evan Woodbammer writes...he probably just helped Solomon write that garbage piece.

He probably sent the photograph.